Something Special
by Hajimeilosukna
Summary: Inspired by the events of Twitch Plays Randomized Alpha Sapphire, its going to be something of a wild ride. Nina Q isn't quite all she claims to be, but the "new arrival" is the least of Hoenn's concern. With the apparent return of Team Aqua, the natural world going haywire, and a strange enchantment causing havoc to travelers, the tensions are getting high.
1. Chapter 1

It had been a long day. A very long day of running in circles, trips to the Pokemon Center, the Voices squabbling and crying and raging and… Nina sighed as she looked back at the light which had floated up behind her. Ra had been surprisingly quiet today, as if he could sense what she was going through; what they had both been through. Three days in and she had come to realize just how far she was in over her head with this. Moonlight tried to stream between the clouds that hung heavy over Route 119. She'd heard once that the clouds always hung like that over Route 119. Curious. At least it had stopped raining for the time being.

 _"What are you thinking about?"_ Ra finally spoke, pulling her out of her thoughts a moment as she glanced back at him.

She smiled at him and lightly shook her head. "Oh just… everything." Her ears pricked at the night, the sound of a gentle breeze teasing with the grass, Pokemon cries off in the distance, the sound of the waterfall further upstream adding a soft hush to the river nearby, all seemed so foreign and wild compared to the mostly cleared streets she'd been traveling before. The moonlight slipped away behind the clouds again, casting the pair into darkness. Nina blinked a bit as her ears continued to take in all the subtle wilderness around her, deep roars she'd come to be familiar with by now were reason enough to stay put for the time being. "Mostly, I guess, I've been thinkin' 'bout home. It's strange, I should be used to this. Back on the ships, I'd sometime walk the deck at night, just watchin' the waves trailin' out behind us. But the ocean was always dark and noisy once it was out of the line of light." She took a deep breath of the humid swamp air. It just wasn't the same. "Probably seems silly, but I never really thought I'd see such a place on shore. I always heard about the big cities and imagined the whole of Hoenn was gonna be filled with lights. Least out at sea I could see the stars…."

It did appear that it was going to rain again. Light showers weren't anything to be worried about, but if the weather would just stick to wet or dry for more than a few hours, she'd be happy. At least with her team, most of them seemed to enjoy it. They should keep moving, continue on to the Weather Institute to at least ask for shelter for the night, but she wasn't ready to move just yet. "Ra… Do you… Do ya think Dad knew all this was gonna happen? I know he's concerned about the fate of the team, but… Sometimes, I think the old man's got more faith in me than I do."

 _"I'm certain he didn't see just how much you would have to struggle with yourself. Even if I were still at my full power, I doubt I could have foreseen the madness of the past few days. If I could, would I be like this?"_ The narrow glimmers of what would be his eyes seemed to close for the moment as he gave something of an awkward shrug. The loose chains jingled softly as he began to playfully sway; a means to show he had perked up despite having no real expression to show it. _"But I do think you shouldn't be so hard on yourself. After all, you swept passed him with flying colors, I don't think he's crazy to assume you have something-"_

The girl had been listening, arms wrapped around her knees to counter the unusual chill to the night, when she turned to him in confusion. "Granger's not my dad." As soon as Nina blurted it out, she began to recoil into herself on the smooth, hard ground. Ra lowered himself to where he hovered beside her, practically looking up at her as he let his light dim. "I… Forget I said anythin', alright? I'm not s'posed to tell anyone."

 _"Not even me? But we're partners."_

"Yeah, but… what if something happens to you?"

 _"Then your secret dies with me. You can trust in my silence if it were really so grave to hide it from close friends."_ The light dimmed almost completely, barely a candle to the darkness, but it did give some sense of being alone on the road.

Nina still gave a nervous glance around for any sign of other travelers. Her Jellicent could be seen practically patrolling the river, just drifting over the waves in ghastly fashion as they sought out dinner. Her fluffy pink pillow had crashed early. No people. Still, as the thunder began to roll overhead, she gave a nervous glance back to her partner. "I'll… tell ya when I'm ready. Let's just see if we can make it to the next rest stop, and I'll tell you when we get there. Promise?"

Ra seemed to dip a little with the motion of a heavy sigh, but he gave a nod to be sure. _"Shelter is of the higher priority; but you should know I'm not going to drop this because of the rain."_

"I know. Let's go gather up the others."


	2. Chapter 2

Nina had found herself staggering of late. They'd been dealing with rough waters ever since the news of Hoenn being struck had reached them. Not that she understood what a "Randomizer Wave" was exactly, but seeing how most of the others on the ship had been dealing with the swells, the sudden lack of balance seemed to only be affecting her. Besides, rough waters wouldn't have explained the visions, would it? Given her state of perpetual dizziness, she'd already spent a good portion of the week in bed trying to recover. And while her visits with the lower shipmates had been nice, it was obvious that her tales of the shore, vivid daydreams of riding along the wide open roads, were concerning to their elders. At least she hadn't told them the full of it. Merely of bike rides, and Pokemon, and a boy… It had to mean something, right? Her father seemed to think so.

While she hadn't fully recovered, the girl was sure that if she wasn't sick already, then she was going to get sick staying in bed any longer. The ship had finally started to steady itself, so that was a sign the storm had passed, right? Right. It was late, for certain, but at least with most being able to take the calm for a chance to sleep, there'd be far fewer people to trip over in the halls. Nina pushed herself out of bed, carefully aligning herself toward the door in an attempt to move straight.

Feeling her way along the walls, supporting herself as their floating home decided to sway, she had been making fairly decent progress to reach deck. Surely, all she really needed was some fresh air to clear her mind.

 _"_ _We're on a boat!"_ "Don't go out, we'll be fish bait!" **"SHARKBAIT! OOH HA HA!"** _"Sharpedo bait?"_ "Doesn't have the same ring to it." _"GO FIND MOM!"_ "I wanna go back to our room. We have games in there, right?~" **"Aqua grunt?"** "GET HIM!"

Yes… clearing her thoughts would be welcoming right about now.

The "grunt" didn't stop as he passed by her, but instead gave a playful pat on her head as he stepped by. Whether he meant to or not, the sudden distraction did seem to help bring her out of her scattered daze. Nina glanced after him, half curious if he even looked back to check on her before she tried to straighten her hair ribbon. It was then that her ears caught another voice, one much more familiar. Her parents seemed to be arguing over something again, judging by her mother's tone, but as she crept up to the door, it seemed different. Generally their bickering was almost playful. Light banter over petty things such as someone's Pokemon was caught sleeping in the kitchen, or that one of them forgot to do something, but now… Nina gave a careful glance around before darting into the linen closet. Few had come to realize that the back corner of the closet allowed such a perfectly undisturbed listening spot. Of course, most weren't small enough to press themselves into the corner as she did, though even she was starting to get to old for that now.

"But she's only a child! I don't care if she's considered a "young adult" now, she's still too young to be going on a long term mission by herself. Going inland means she can't even take any of her Pokemon with her. And trying to go inland at all right now is practically suicide!"

"She could still take her Pokemon if she wanted but I think it'd be a safer bet for her to appear to be startin' fresh. Draw a lot less attention that way. And it ain't like she's goin' alone. Granger and I've been communicatin' for a while now-"

"For, what, three days?!"

Nina curled into herself as she started to feel guilty about listening. Not that it surprised her to realize they were talking about her, but it suddenly made sense why her mother had made no mention of the trip the last time she came to see her in bed. Perhaps she should have asked, then they could have talked about all this. It was a big a change after all…

"Shhhh, let me finish. Me and him have been talkin' for far longer than that, given he was applyin' for his new job at the time. Nina gettin' involved is all that's changed. I thought he might've used his position as a leader to help us in getting' answers, but Nina ought to be able to be a lot more direct. These tactless thieves may not be very strong, or organized, but they ain't dumb. That much is for certain."

Her mother's temper turned soft as new concerns sunk in. "You don't think it's IGN, do you?"

Nina perked up at the name and tried to turn to where she could press against the wall to make sure she heard that correctly. Dad never made mention of them when he explained to her about the plan earlier.

"If it is, it ain't the gang from last time. I wouldn't dream to call Maxie and me friends, but I know him to be a man of his word. Don't mean it's impossible though. A snake without its head will still thrash for a while." She could hear the added weight to his voice as he heaved a sigh. "A long while, this one…."

"We could barely do anything last time, what makes you think this time is going to be any different? We weren't welcome before, no one would take our word now."

Her father had been doing surprisingly well to keep his voice level. Nina moved slightly from the wall as she heard his footsteps on the hard wood floors coming near her. "Which is why I'm thinkin' Nina may be our only hope." He began to pace. "We could storm the shores, we have the numbers, but what good would that do? Incur another blasted turf war? Bring on the full wrath of Hoenn against us for wantin' the chance for a place to live? I'm no land lover, but the very least they could do is give us a choice. For three generations-"

"Yes, for three generations lost at sea, the Aquarians have paid for what your grandfather did. Everyone knows that, but if you're wanting to somehow redeem us, why not do it yourself? This is your daughter, YOUR DAUGHTER, and you want to send her into the Seviper pit for… For what? Hmm?"

"I don't…. I don't know really."

Nina could hear the pacing slow as if the words took hold of him. She couldn't help but blink at the darkness of her small hiding place as her thoughts, racing with nagging voices, chattered frantically to each other. Some screaming about snakes, some wailing at the thought of divorce, some still giggling about being "blind" in the closet, and some she couldn't even make sense of at all. If her father wasn't crazy, she was certainly getting there. At the very least, she could keep still while sitting down. The girl fiercely shook her head as if she could shake away these stray feelings and try to focus.

Her father had at least stopped pacing, that much she could tell, but his normally booming voice had become almost inaudible as she pressed against the corner again to hear. "All I know is she can't stay here. If it were me, I'd gladly take her place, but Nina, she's…. I'm sure you've noticed, but there's been a change lately. The others been telling me how she's been doin' and I…."

"Is that why you asked Granger to take her?"

"He'll keep her safe, for sure, but there's more to it than just that. You may call me a man of superstition, but it can't be coincidence. First I get word that Granger's got plans to come back to Hoenn with hopes of becoming Petalburg's leader. Then we get this randomizer wave comin', and now we got Team Aqua claimin' to be back with "grand plans". Three guesses as to what those plans are gonna be. They may be old stories, but lore runs deep in Hoenn and they'll be lookin' for a hero. They think history's gonna repeat itself, then I say we let 'em believe it. Nina's gonna pose as his daughter and arrive with the move. People try to put two and two together, we're gonna have ourselves the second coming of Slash."

"I still don't like this…"

"I know… But even if we could try to keep her from goin' she'd never survive out here. And you know They won't leave until the deed is done. She'll be fine, I promise. She's our girl, so she's gotta be somethin' special, right?"

Nina began to shift uncomfortably. Because of the Voices, because of the heat, because she'd never known her father to be at a loss for words like this, just something. She needed to move, but she wanted to stay. She should interrupt them, tell her how she really felt about all this. Their voices dropped to almost a murmur, but Nina didn't want to hear any more. She knew of the plan, for sure, thought how she was going to be treated like an adult, how she was to become like a secret agent all cool, and calm, and fighting bad guys. A lone Aquarian able to strut the streets of Hoenn as she sought out answers. The sudden wave of uncertainty started to show itself as water softly began to stream along her cheek. She needed to get outside. But as the Voices screamed happily that she had gotten up, allowing for them to push her down the hall once more, she really only had one thought of her own: Her father was wrong. She WISHED she was something special, but now she knew she had to leave because she'd been broken

A/N Okay! So the story actually starts from here as leading up to where the last one started. Given I'm not sure how many people followed the Randomized Alpha Sapphire Run, I'll try to explain things along the way.

1) IGN was the team we fought against in Omega Ruby given they were Magma in-game, but due to us playing at the day of release, and the popular "Too Much Water" meme IGN became notorious for at the time, it all made sense.

2) Granger is the name given to this Run's Norman because he was a Rock-type specialist. Credit for the name goes to MegamanOmega.

3) "Second coming of Slash" though it'll be explained in more detail later, Slash is in reference to Camilla A. Slash, our protag for the Emerald Run.


	3. Chapter 3

Nina wasn't sure what to expect when she finally arrived in Littleroot. The video guide her "mother" gave her didn't exactly explain much either. The footage was beautiful though as the short movie illuminated the otherwise dark, cramped, and overheated compartment she was riding in. The driver was kind enough to comply even though he was confused when she asked to ride in the back. Honestly she wanted some time alone to try to gather her thoughts. Her mind's internal chattering had gotten worse, almost headache inducing, but at least she was learning she could ignore it better when she was trying to focus on other things. With her mission soon at hand, she began to feel a bit more confident in knowing she'd have more than enough to be focused on once they reached town.

The girl tensed up as the she could feel the van pulling to a stop, gazing around as the boxes slightly shifted and rustled as if threatening to fall. They remained still though, which she was thankful for, but little could prevent her heart from racing as she heard the engine go quiet. Light poured in as the doors finally opened, nearly blinding her as she put away her PokeNav and tried to get up. It was hard to say if her legs were merely cramped from trying not to move, or if the bumpy roads had made her dizzy, but it was near impossible to get her balance. As she staggered and tried to feel her way toward the light, Nina almost fell as she stepped out. Her eyes adjusted to the afternoon light as she caught herself on the freshly cut grass. The world began to come clear as she gazed about her new home. Littleroot appeared to be little more than a cul-de-sac in the forest with patches of what was once a dirt road still in sight. Only two, maybe three people were spotted and she could barely see a cottage belonging to someone behind the trees. A single large structure broke up the otherwise Pecha Bberry perfect simplicity but, as she only saw the back of it, she wasn't sure what it could be. Nina closed her eyes as she wanted to take it all in; the singing of birds, a gentle fragrant breeze, the sound of a Machoke huffing for her to move away from the van so they could start unloading. Wait. Nina opened her eyes, quite startled by the large brute that overshadowed her. A second one stood behind her in the truck with a crate in hand and hoping to jump on down. Before she could even utter an apology to them, her attention was drawn to the laughter of a woman nearby coming to "rescue" her.

"My gosh, Nina! Is that really you?~" As Nina lightly stepped aside from the movers, Dana hurried over and quickly pulled her into a tight embrace. She eased up after a moment, her hands still resting on the girl's shoulders, as her eyes scanned over the seemingly frail creature standing before her. "Look at you, just wow. I haven't seen since you were only half my size!"

Nina tensed up at the statement and tried to quietly shush her before glancing around to see if anyone had heard that. It wouldn't make sense for her own "mother" to not recognize her, now would it? The tiny town continued on without change though, and Nina tried to assure herself that no one was even paying attention to them. She tried to flash a confident smile, but her voice came out soft and dry when she finally spoke. "Y-yeah, Dana, l-long time no see… Did, um… Did Granger by any chance explain to you why I'm here, since, you should know…"

Dana also began to look around, taking note of the boy near the van, but he seemed more fascinated with the movers than anything. They seemed to be in the clear now. "Oh, I'm sure no one around here would care anyway. Its' a pretty easy going little place. So! How do you like Littleroot? Being from a big city, I've been feeling like I'm on vacation since I got here. Of course, this is probably still small for your standards too, huh? It's a quite charming little place, if I do say so myself. Say, why don't you come inside and have a look at your new home?"

Nina couldn't really get a word in edgewise as she found herself being lead on by her new mom into the house beside them. She couldn't deny it did look nice and cozy and big as a place for only two people. The movers still huffed passed them with boxes, but the room was large and brightly painted at least. She was even surprised how the television was already hooked up and running, but as Dana continued to prattle on about the house, it's trimmings, how awesome the movers had been, she could figure the woman hadn't had much to do since they arrived. The kitchen, the living room, her own room, in a mix of childish excitement and hoping to please Dana, Nina scurried all over the house, barely taking it in. She finally had to interrupt with the only real question on her mind. "I still don't understand why you guys set up a room and everything though when you know I'm not staying."

"Oh, sweetie, that doesn't matter to me!~ Even normal trainers need a place to call home. I want you to know you'll always have a place here to come back to. Besides, you don't plan to leave right this minute, do you?" The concern in Dana's eyes only seemed to deepen as she lightly brushed Nina's bangs aside.

Nina started to feel bad, but she couldn't bring herself to say yes as The Voices urged her to get moving. She didn't _want_ to go just yet, but she knew she at least had to find a way to get started. Granger was supposed to give her a new Pokemon when she arrived, maybe get in a bit of practice, but she had to be gone by morning. Her family was counting on her after all. "Where's Granger, anyway?" She asked, wanting to change the subject if possible now. "Wasn't he supposed to be here today?"

Dana paused a moment, blinking back at the girl in slight confusion. "Granger? Why, honey, he's not here. Since he's going to be the new Gym Leader, he's all the way in Petalburg overseeing the renovations." She tried to give the girl a smile, though it seemed much less genuine than before. "Maybe tomorrow we can go there together. I know he wanted to be here for when you arrived, but moving has been a busy ordeal for all of us. Here, why don't we sit down and have a little chat. We can always-" Suddenly she perked up and began leading the way to the television at the sound of Petalburg on the news. "Oh, honey, look! There he is!~"

Nina rather reluctantly followed her, but the report had already ended. She didn't exactly need to see Granger since she should felt she should already know all about him anyway. Taking a seat at the table was nice though as it lead to a drop of Voice protesting even if only for a moment. As the woman sat across from her, her earlier excitement seemed to dwindle. Nina tried to draw her attention from the following talk of the Meteor Shower coming up. "Hey, why don't we just go now? I'm sure he can't be THAT busy if he's stopping for tv people and stuff, right?"

Dana gave a soft hum of amusement, but leaned back in her chair with a sigh. "We could, but someone still has to stay until the movers are done." Nina's smile started to waver as that really wasn't what she had hoped to hear. Dana started to perk up as she straightened back in her seat. "Say, but I got a better idea. The truck outside should be the last of our stuff, so why don't you go spend some time looking around town? You know there's a boy your age that lives right next door, and the professor's an old friend of your dad's so you should probably get to know them. It would be the… neighborly thing to do. I'm sure we'll be finished when you get back. How does that sound?"

Nina thought about this proposal long and hard. It was dumb to try to leave town without anything to protect her, but the Voices were threatening to kill her clock if she stayed home much longer. As long as she was doing _something_ it should calm them down, right? A stray thought wondered if maybe they were just restless from the long drive. Admittedly, she was feeling pretty restless herself after all that. "Sure. I'll see you in a bit then.~"

It was oddly nice exploring the tiny town. Under the shade, talking to the people outside, going to explore the professor's lab. Only to be scooted out by the lone researcher there for intruding. With Professor Birch out and about, she could only assume he was at home then. A quick knock and a step through the door was all Nina could think to do, as it was what she had always done back home. She'd never really had "new neighbors" before in their own tiny community, so she couldn't understand the woman's startled reaction at her coming in. She did knock, didn't she?

After the first bout of confusion, Nina was able to clarify a few things at least. The woman seemed much more at ease as she explained the situation. "Ah, so you're the new girl in town? Well, I can't say I was expecting you to pop in here like this, but I'm guessing my husband was expecting you. He's out right now, I'm afraid."

Nina began to deflate again as it seemed she wouldn't be getting help from anyone then. "Well… What about his son? My m-mom told me I should come and meet the neighbors and st-stuff so I just thought I'd say hi…." Nina couldn't help wringing her fingers as she'd already gotten in trouble once that afternoon and hoped she wasn't going to start off on a bad foot with the whole town at this rate. On the upside, she thought, she wasn't staying long so it wouldn't matter much. Dana would probably have a full background story for her as the gossip went around, but knowing Dana….

"Then you might want to catch him before he heads out. He's supposed to be helping my husband today with his fieldwork." Mrs. Birch placed a hand on her hip in slight annoyance, but her tone changed to a drawn out sigh of exasperation. "I can't say I understand exactly what they go doing out there all day, but ever since we got hit by this "randomizer," or whatever, I feel like I hardly see them at all lately." She gave a sudden slight clear of the throat as she shifted again to cross her arms over her chest. "Not that you really care about all that. Go on up, I'm sure you'll give Rai a good scare."

While Nina couldn't understand the statement about scaring anyone, she was curious to know more about the randomizer if "Rai" happened to have any answers to that. It shouldn't surprise her that the top researcher in the region would be investigating the strange phenomenon. But, given how little it had affected their own home, it hadn't occurred to her how much had changed inland. Nina started to brighten at the thought of getting a head start into her own investigations right here in town, and gave the woman a nod before she hurried on upstairs.

Raijin actually didn't seem startled at all, but rather pleasantly surprised to see her. Of course, she noticed as she glanced around the room how the view from his window allowed him to see the truck outside. Perhaps he actually saw her coming over. The boy turned to her with a bright grin, all geared up for a day out, and she felt her stomach turn as the Voices began to scream louder than she even thought possible. A whole slew of things she couldn't believe were racing through her mind as she started to turn red at his approach. "So you're the new kid in town, right?" She didn't respond, she couldn't really for fear of blurting something out. He placed a hand on his hip, much as his mother had done, and leaned to one side as he looked her over. She only continued to stare at him, prompting his smile to dim as he seemed to be contemplating her. "I guess I was expecting something else when I heard we had a gym leader moving in. You know, my family's pretty famous and all, so I thought we might have a lot in common." Nina barely gave a hum of assurance as she couldn't do more than nod. "Do you… have any Pokemon or anything? I'm known to be a pretty decent trainer for a beginner. I could probably help you get one if you needed to. You know, so we could hang out or something?"

The silence between them was almost stifling as she could feel herself starting to shake under his gaze. The tension rising, she was finally able to squeak. "S-s-sorry. I, um…"

The boy waved it off as he started to walk passed her to grab his backpack. "Eh, don't worry about it. I overheard Mom send you up here anyway. Hoenn's pretty scary right now, but you can relax in Littleroot. Me and Dad have got this place pretty well secured." He gave a glance to the clock on his wall and straightened up. "Speaking of, I really should get going. I need to run by the lab first, so if you could…" Nina hesitated, "You know…" She didn't, but she nodded anyway. "Get out of my room so I can finish up here?"

"OH! Y-yeah, sure. I… I'll see you later.~" She awkwardly began to back out of the room before nearly tripping over the stairs. Even though she was being urged to go back up there, she merely placed a hand over her face as she marched out the door in embarrassment.

The Voices rang with a single consistent thought that seemed to scream over and over again: Raijin had been labeled, in all manners, a jerk, and if she ever saw him again she'd have to fight him. Why…? Much as she was getting used to shutting these things out, she knew it wasn't just them that kept her from speaking to him. His sudden appearance had left her in shock, and as she saw him rush out the door toward the lab, she began to realize why. That first week of feverish dreams, she had seen him. Her stomach began to churn again at the thought. Did that mean the other "dreams" were real too…?

A/N: Not much to explain this time around, but mostly just speeding through opening stuff. Raijin's name came up in a conversation about how to differentiate him from Brendan. Which it does sort of sound like Brendan but, and I'm just bringing this up now since it won't come up for a WHILE, Rai got randomized to be an Electric-type specialist.


	4. Chapter 4

Nina wandered lost in thought as she made her way back to the house, watching Raijin charge over to the lab. A part of her said she should go after him. Even if their meeting had been nothing but awkward, if he was going out to meet his dad, then maybe she could make it up to him and tag along. She still needed to meet the professor after all. Despite her intention to go to the lab, she had her attention drawn by a young boy, only seven years at most, running toward her.

"Miss! M-miss! I saw you with those big Pokemon earlier, you're a trainer, right? You gotta hurry!" Before she could answer, he took her by the hand and started to lead the way.

Nina didn't budge, and instead tugged him back to her as she pulled her hand away. "Hang on, a sec! What's going on?"

The boy stared up at her, his eyes wide as he seemed stunned to think she'd have to ask. "Its… I heard screams outside of town. I think it's the professor!"

Nina felt her heart a sink a moment at his plea. She was a trainer, but she had no Pokemon. She didn't know anyone in town to go around asking so she'd be no better off than the boy. After hesitating a moment, she stared at the open road before them, straining her ears to see if she could pick up the cries for help between the shouts from overwhelming internal debate. The Voices were urging her to hurry out there, even promising her safety if she'd go. The names of Pokemon were being yelled too, and a few directions how to find them, she could almost believe they were trying to summon her a partner. Raijin's words came back to her of how frightening Hoenn had become lately- Wait! Raijin! Nina slid down to the boy's level and placed a hand on his shoulder to turn his attention to her. "Alright, I'm going to go on ahead, but I need you to do something for me. This is very important." The boy gave a nod though he still seemed unnerved by the situation. "I need you to run over to the lab, as fast as you can, and get Raijin. Make sure he knows it's an emergency. Can you do that for me?"

"Y-yeah, at the lab, got it!" Without another word, he darted off toward the large building clear at the other end of town.

Good kid, Nina thought, but couldn't spare another moment standing around. With a sharp turn on her heals, she glared down open pathway once more, trying to muster up her courage to run into the field. As much as she wanted to believe that Birch should be able to take care of himself, she still couldn't help but dread the thought that if he and Raijin were the defenders of the town it had to be bad. Following the noise, she was surprised to see how close to town the man actually was when she found him. It was almost a relief to know she wouldn't have to be risking the tall grass, just unarmed. Her dread turned to curiosity as she slowly approached a stray bag in the middle of the road. Birch didn't seem to pay her any mind as she watched him trying to outrun a single Poochyena. She felt bad for snickering, but it was strange to think such panic was coming from something so familiar to her. She had to get his attention somehow, but all she could think to do was cup her hands to her mouth and try shouting. "PROFESSOR?~"

At the very least, it seemed to catch the pup's attention too as the Poochyena turned away from its prey at the call. Birch appeared more worried than glad to see her. "You! You shouldn't be here right now, it's dangerous!" Nina grew more amused at the thought considering she felt she could be able to wrangle the single pup at this rate. "If you have any Pokemon, hurry and take out the leader before the others arrive!" That, on the other hand, stunned her internal giggling immediately. It had never been a problem with the numerous young pups her extended family had bred, but she hadn't considered the wild Poochyena wouldn't be far from it's pack.

Her heart began to race at the prospect. The pup seemed to be holding back, thankfully, now that Birch had turned to face it. "I… I don't have one." She finally admitted.

Birch had been keeping contact with the pup, giving short soft whistles as he tried to talk it down almost under his breath. Nina's honesty suddenly left him cold. "Th-that's okay! Um… You see that bag over there? Grab one of the Poke Balls in there, and HURRY!"

Nina found herself nearly pouncing for it as The Voices turned almost feverish in their clamoring to grab one. There were three that had rolled out of the bag, possibly between the deep tears in the side from claw marks. One of the Poke Balls already had some kind of indention on the outside that looked like a Leech Life wound. Her mind still raced over the thought of the oncoming pack. How many there might be, how she could even handle them with only three Pokemon, the nervousness in realizing she had no idea what she was even using as there was no way to determine what lay within. Left, right, water, grass, Mudkip, Treecko, it all seemed to run together as her hand wavered between the three. Unsure what to do as between the Voices and the sense of urgency, she finally closed her eyes and let her hand drop on the one in front of her. Nina couldn't think anymore, could barely breath, as she rose up from the ground and poised herself to battle. She threw the ball with enough force to strike the Poochyena like she'd thrown a rock. That certainly caught the pup's attention, and it quickly turned on her with a snarl. The Poke Ball bounced back toward her, quickly popping open to unleash a small fire-colored bird between them.

Nina noticed Birch slowly edging his way toward the tree line to avoid the battlefield. He held an uneasy gaze at the grass starting to rustle on the other side with at least three more pups arriving on the scene. She couldn't hear them though. She couldn't hear anything. Not the professor calling over to her, not the howling from the leader pup, not even herself as she could only assume she told the tiny Torchic to attack, unless he just felt that offended at getting hit first. She felt she was in a trance, both watching and half dreaming as she found herself moved by the energy that encompassed her. The Voices shrieked, and screamed, and raged and laughed, only to change their tune to a single repetitive cry. _Judgement_. Judgement. **Judgment**. _ **JUDGEMENT!**_ She didn't understand what it meant, but the frenzy grew until she found herself calling out, "USE JUDGEMENT!"

No sooner had she given the order, dread filled her in wondering if she should have done that. The Torchic began to glow as he leaped off the ground, letting out some fierce, otherworldly screech. The whole area grew dark, not from any natural force she could tell, when there came a flash of prismatic light. The whole route seemed to come alive with the rapid fleeing of wild Pokemon in the area as the light descended upon the horde or Poochyena. There was barely even a yelp before the whole woods had gone quiet and the darkness faded away. Nina wasn't sure what to feel as it did. She was terrified yet dazzled at the display, sickened by the result and yet empowered at her success to protect them.

"WHAT WAS THAT?!" Nina tensed up as she turned around to see Raijin, still panting from the rush to help, had arrived just in time for the finale. To be honest, she didn't know herself what just happened, so there was little she could explain anyway. Fortunately, he didn't ask any further as he hurried over to the professor. Birch was also panting, but seemed somewhat faint as he leaned on the boy for support. "Dad, you're bleeding."

"Whole pack knew Leech Life. I'll be fine." Birch tried to give his son a comforting pat on the back, as he turned his attention to Nina. "But you… Why don't we head back to the lab? I need to speak with both of you."

"Y-yes, sir." Nina looked down at the bird trying to nuzzle her shoe. He seemed innocent enough, almost wanting her approval for his victory, but she still couldn't decide what to make of him. Still, orders were orders, so she pulled up the Poke Ball to call him back before following the others back into town. The Voices had begun to settle, a huge relief on her part, but the whole ordeal had been unsettling. Just what were these things? As she made her way through town, it seemed that everyone within Littleroot had gathered near the entrance. Whispers wondering what happened out there, the brief darkness, a flash of lightning, the sudden quiet, and someone returned injured. It all happened in a matter of minutes, they said, but she couldn't believe that. It felt far longer than that. Quietly entering the lab revealed the truth though, leaving her even more boggled it was still afternoon.

Raijin had helped the professor to a chair and hurried off to grab the first-aid kit from the store room. Birch shook his head at the boy's fussing over him, but brightened at the chance to speak with Nina alone. "I may not understand what happened back there, but I'm grateful for the help. If you hadn't shown up when you did, I'd probably be needing more than bandages right now."

"I just did what you told me, sir. I have to ask though, why didn't you have your own Pokemon to save you?" She hoped she wasn't being too blunt with him, "Or why not even come into town where we could help you?"

"And lead the whole pack into town?" Birch started to laugh. "THAT would be crazy. But, I can see your point. For one thing, mine were already fainted. I hate to admit it, but ever since Hoenn been getting hit with these randomizer waves, I've been having a hard time adjusting to how different things are. Not just with the wild Pokemon, but my own. I feel like a total newbie again. I guess since Rai's still a newbie himself, he's been a lot more open minded about the new move sets everything has. You seem to be pretty quick on the Pick-up too, actually. Which reminds me, I don't think I ever got your name."

"My name? It's…" She paused, her mind racing again as she realized she hadn't really told anyone yet. She couldn't give her real name since she was supposed to be in hiding. Dana might have mentioned she was coming though, so it might be too late to make up something. But, even if she told him, she wasn't staying in town long enough for him to get to know her anyway, so what did it matter? Buuuuut as he was the regional professor, she'd have to register to be a trainer under him anyway so whatever she told him would end up on her ID card. All she could think was he was likely judging her for how hard it seemed to answer a simple question. Think, Nina! It shouldn't be that hard! "I… I'm…" The Voices had begun to chime in wanting to help. "Q."

He seemed to realize he struck a nerve, as he eased back in his chair with a warm smile. "Ah, you're Granger's girl, right?"

Nina couldn't believe how hard she was going blank at everything, but she realized as soon as he said it, that was Granger's last name. She hesitated a moment on whether to offer up something else or not, before figuring it best to leave it at that. "I prefer it like a nickname. Please, just call me Kyu."

"Alright, Kyu, it's good to meet you." He reached out to shake her hand before shifting his chair to level with her. "I know this is probably weird for you, since you just moved here, but I need to ask you about your Torchic."

"It's not mine though, I found it in the bag with the others."

Birch merely gave a slow nod as if not certain he understood that or not. His voice dropped to a whisper as he leaned in close, prompting her to do the same. "That's what I wanted to ask you about. That's not mine. I have NO idea where that Torchic came from." Nina stared at him in confusion. "Here, let me show you." He pulled his battered bag from the table and a held up a Poke Ball to her. "I get new Pokemon here all the time, particularly from breeders, so we usually try to label them with a sticker. On the bottom here is the logo for where they came from, and the elemental sticker on the top is to keep track of what we have here." Nina started to scan over the Poke Ball she had with her and found it to be blank. "So if it's not yours, and it's not mine, I've no idea what to tell Rai or anyone else if I were to take it."

"So, you want me to just keep this one?" Much as it was a mystery, she couldn't resist the hope that she wouldn't have to wait for Granger to return after all. If she had her own, she could even leave first thing in the morning to start her journey.

"If you would until we get this all sorted out, I'd greatly appreciate it." He eased back in the chair once more, his voice returned to good humor. "Rai, about time you got back. I need to speak with you too."

Raijin set down the box on the counter. "Um, sure. What's up?"

"Kyu and I were just talking about the situation with Hoenn and how we've practically had the whole region reset due to the randomizer. Unfortunately, that means that our understanding of the world out there right now has too." He pushed himself up from his seat to go fetch something from the desk. Raijin grew stern as he saw what was in hand when he returned. "This is a Pokedex. I've had to make some modifications to our old standard, and programmed these two that were going to be for you and me to use. After today though, I think it's pretty clear that I wouldn't make it very far on my own."

The two teens gave a nervous glance to each other before taking them. Nina curiously opened hers to look over its features right away. Raijin, however, looked grim. "But you wouldn't have to go very far. We need to be here to protect Littleroot."

"Rai, you practically patrol the entire Petalburg territory like it's your job. That shouldn't be your job, that's mine. And I've been thinking... Well, I know that I can't always have you charging into danger because I've gotten used to you covering for me. It's not fair to put that much pressure on you. I think you'd be able to help so much more from out there. Don't you think?" Raijin's voice dropped to a murmur as he complied. Nina kept pretending she was fascinated with the PokeDex while trying not to show she thought this probably should have been a private conversation. "And, Kyu," she jolted to attention, "I know that I've been asking a lot from you already, but this is more than just a favor to me. I need someone to try to get information on as many changes to the Pokemon population as possible. The PokeDex automatically records information, so it should come as a big help to a newcomer like you. Since Rai will be helping, I'm sure between the two of you we can get the whole of Hoenn covered as quickly as possible. Can you do this for me?"

"Oh, o-of course." She couldn't have said no as she feared she'd have to explain herself. Since he said the Dex updated itself though, it shouldn't take her away from her real task.

"Good, good…" Birch heaved a sigh of relief, though he still didn't appear happy to be asking. "I'll let you finish up anything you need to do. I need to call some of the other leaders to let them know what's going on. I'd like for you to be back here around eight tomorrow."

Nina agreed, but as she started to leave the pair alone, she could still feel the tension hanging over them. Raijin wasn't taking this well. She couldn't let herself think about it too much, wouldn't dare look back, for fear she'd find a reflection of herself.

A/N: Overall, even if some parts could be smoother, I'm sort of pleased how this turned out. 3

Also, our first battle with Rai was basically done in two seconds due to Judgement. I figured it'd be easy enough to skip since these two will be seeing each other a lot anyway.


End file.
